Street Plumbing Acquires Deep Creek Construction

This story was written by Kris Heinze for the Lincoln Sentinel and can be found online here.

R&R Street Plumbing, Heating and Electric, Inc., 2009 E. Hwy 18, announced in a press release the acquisition of Deep Creek Construction, L.L.C., owned by Kirk and Susan Wollesen of Lincoln. As part of the acquisition, Kirk and Susan became part owners of R&R Street Plumbing, Heating and Electric, Inc. , and will become members of its management staff at the Lincoln office.

This isn’t the first time that Street Plumbing has been involved in a business merger. In 2014, Mike Street and Royce Hillegeist, both Lincoln county residents and business owners, combined Street Plumbing with Precision Electric, forming R&R Street Plumbing, Heating and Electric, Inc. and moved into the vacated former Carrico Implement buildings. The business has continued to grow since that time.

The acquisition of Deep Creek Construction was effective Aug. 1 and Hillegeist, one of now 8 owners of the business, said the two companies have partnered together on jobs previously.

“We’ve done some jobs together in the past, they’ve done some boring for us, for example, over at Lincoln Park Manor,” Royce Hillegeist said. “We’ve been thinking about it [combining businesses] for a couple years now.”

The benefit of joining forces allows both companies to share experienced people and equipment while cutting overhead expenses, such as insurance.

“Economies of scale,” Susan Wollesen said. “And we’ve been working out of our home office, which was ok for two to three employees. This [move] offers a central location, and now that the kids are both in college I have more time to devote to an office job.”

Deep Creek Construction installs site utilities including water, sewer, and electric conduit for new commercial construction projects, and also rebuilds city and rural water systems.

Street Plumbing installs commercial plumbing, heating, and air conditioner on new construction projects such as hotels, restaurants, and retail space. Their work includes commercial remodeling projects, and industrial equipment service. They also provide residential plumbing services for Lincoln and surrounding county areas.

Going forward, Street Plumbing, with the newly expanded utility expertise and capabilities from Deep Creek Construction, will continue to meet the community’s plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical, and underground utility construction needs, while also serving commercial and municipal entities.

The owners explained how the more diversified business stands a better chance of winning construction bids, and can better keep employees engaged between various job situations with less downtime.

“We can bid a more complete package,” Mike Street said. “Labor can work on other jobs during bad weather and an expanded workforce can do increasingly complex or integrated jobs.”

Hillegeist and Wollesen said the business is always looking for skilled employees that are able to problem solve and comfortable in a sometimes challenging work environment.

“It is hard to find people because it is a demanding job, especially air conditioning,” Hillegeist said. “It’s getting to be kind of a lost art.”

Wollesen echoed that sentiment.

“A lot of it is problem solving, there’s a lot [of work] available, but it takes the right kind of person,“ Wollesen said.

The owners said there are no immediate plans to change the current business name.

“We’ll answer the phone Street Plumbing,” Wollesen said.